


Only Human

by monstersinthecosmos



Series: The Usher [10]
Category: Vampire Chronicles - Anne Rice
Genre: Blindfolds, Blow Jobs, Hand Jobs, M/M, Oral Sex, ejaculating on armand's nice clothes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-18
Updated: 2017-10-18
Packaged: 2019-01-19 07:30:53
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12405867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/monstersinthecosmos/pseuds/monstersinthecosmos
Summary: “So you can… see… what I see?”“I can see everything, Daniel.”





	Only Human

**Author's Note:**

> Named after [Only Human](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GQwCh3qAJY) by Cold Showers. :) 
> 
> All the music I've been using for this series is in a playlist now, it's [here!](https://monstersinthecosmos.tumblr.com/post/159626820089/soundtrack-the-usher-01-savlonic-android)

_1981_

 

“So you can… see… what I see?”

Daniel was scrunched into the corner of the over-stuffed couch, knees pulled up to his chest. He pressed the rim of his glass against his bottom lip but didn’t sip. Armand’s posture was more relaxed, spread out at the other end, arm thrown over the back. He nodded.

It settled in Daniel’s face for a moment, that gentle sense of understanding. It was something he would accept, but it always took a moment for his brain to adjust around the new information. It was especially clouded by the bourbon tonight, and the ice clicked as he took another swallow.

Of course, the alcohol wasn’t helping the process along. Armand could sense the way the thoughts were swimming around it, hovering and trying to permeate.

But, as Armand sat back into the pillows, he understood. After all, he was feeling it, as well. It wasn’t Daniel’s first drink of the night, and Armand could still taste the earlier one. Even just the small offering of blood still coated his mouth, and there was the faint tinge of acidity from the booze—he could still feel it dancing inside his body. It made him feel uncharacteristically… light.

“So like,” Daniel leaned forward a little, resting his drink on one knee and his chin on the other. “Don’t look,” he giggled at Armand’s raised eyebrows. “Don’t look. But tell me what I can see out the window behind you.”

Armand smirked. Daniel’s eyes were taking on that hazy, glassy state that always creeped in after a couple drinks. He could sense the way Daniel’s vision was going blurry at the edges, but he was still present enough for now.

“Well, Daniel,” Armand said. “You keep looking at the apartment building. It’s brick and the windows have white lattices. The light inside looks yellow, except for the one all the way on the left. They’re watching television inside so it’s flickering blue.”

Beat of silence, and Daniel’s eyes narrowed. He leaned in closer.

“You’re cheating. You saw it before.”

“I’m not cheating, Daniel.”

Barely perceptible flicker of Daniel’s eyes, back and forth as he considered it, like he was trying to read words off Armand’s face. Back and forth, back and forth. Armand watched it happen but knew a human wouldn’t have been able to.

“I think I should blindfold you,” he said, and as the words came out he was pulling loose the tie from around his neck. Still dressed impeccably from the opera earlier, and it set Armand’s teeth on edge when the flash of skin was exposed. His veins were throbbing, warm, fluttering purple there beneath the surface.

He was studying Armand’s face for a reaction as he came forward, unfolding his body and dropping his glass down onto the coffee table with his free hand. This was always Daniel’s approach, the challenging pseudo-aggression that was always pushing for a response. Armand would allow this today, he decided, and he shifted so that Daniel could slide into his lap.

There was a quick moment where he saw Daniel’s face, up close—violet eyes and chapped lips and the faint dust of freckles over the bridge of his nose—and then it was stolen by the enveloping darkness of the silk tie coming down over his eyes. The pulse in Daniel’s wrist drummed steady and loud beside Armand’s ear as he worked to get it tied in back. When he was in place, Armand felt the weight shift and then land over his thighs. Hands rested against his shoulders and the warm body caging him in was close enough that he could feel the heat radiating between their chests.

“So you can’t see anything?” he asked.

“You’ve blindfolded me, Daniel.”

“You know what I meant.”

He put his hands on Daniel’s hips and gave a gentle squeeze. His shirt was still tucked in from earlier and he could feel the leather of Daniel’s belt beneath his palms.

“I can see everything, Daniel.”

Daniel scoffed at this, of course, and Armand squeezed a little harder. One of the hands left his shoulder, and he could feel by the way Daniel was moving that he was putting it behind his back.

“How many fingers am I holding up?”

Beneath the blindfold, Armand rolled his eyes. “That’s not how it works, Daniel.”

“See, you’re lying.”

“No, Daniel,” Armand said. He touched his fingertips to Daniel’s elbow. “I told you, I can see what you see. You can’t see how many fingers you’re holding up either, can you?”

“Oh. Right.”

“But I can still tell you, just from reading your thoughts, that I know the answer is three.” As he said it, he trailed down Daniel’s forearm, then his wrist. He sat up straighter and their chests came together as he touched Daniel’s three outstretched fingers as if to seek evidence. The heat spiked from Daniel’s body, and the cock twitched against Armand’s stomach. In his hand, he felt Daniel’s going clammy.

“Right, right, um…”

Armand cleared his head and felt for Daniel. This was a skill that did not depend on blindfolds, but he was impressed nonetheless at the clarity of his vision when his own was stolen. Daniel was turning his head from side to side to find something in the room to focus on. The bourbon had already began to creep into his peripherals but he was making the effort. Through the window to the street outside, then the heavy drapes, the doorway into the bedroom and the green numbers on the alarm clock, floating there in the dark. When he turned to look back at Armand again, the numbers wiggled and streaked across the room. And then he stopped, and stared. He watched Armand, the way the black tie cut against the pale face, and the slight headtilt, and the way the light was catching the hair gel. Hair cut short tonight, clipped neat and mature, slicked back to be presentable. Handsome, he had to admit, and it was vaguely unsettling to stare at himself in this way, through Daniel’s eyes, it felt different than looking into a mirror. There was an instinct to feel squeamish about it, as if Daniel could shape him differently, sculpt him into something he wasn’t, but he was seeing only his own blazing allure.

As he began to speak he saw the way his own mouth moved around the words, the way the vowels accentuated his plump bottom lip.

“You were looking around the room but now you’re just staring at me.”

Cock twitching against him again, growing heavier. Daniel cleared his throat before he responded.

“How do I know you’re not just reading that from my thoughts?”

“You don’t,” his hands trailed back around and rested against Daniel’s sharp hip bones. “But, what’s the difference, really?”

It was odd to watch himself like this. How many times had they engaged in this type of behavior, and he was usually able to watch Daniel’s face? It wasn’t the only way to gauge his reaction, of course; Armand was usually listening in to his thoughts, as well, and the sound of his pulse hammering. All the ways that Daniel’s body turned on felt a bit like alchemy in Armand’s hands. But seeing his face was part of the pleasure, watching how his eyes would go hooded, the blush in his cheeks. And now he could only see himself.

Odd.

He watched as he canted his own head in thought, and watched his pale hands undo the button on Daniel’s pants. It was predictable that Daniel’s brow would knit together with the little gasp he let out, because it always did. He didn’t need to see it, didn’t need to watch Daniel bite his lip or narrow his eyes, didn’t need to see the way his abs flexed when he clasped his hand firmly around the half-hard cock. But there it was, through Daniel’s eyes. He looked down to see the white fingers stroking up and down, the red-purple head swelling at the top. But then he was staring at Armand’s face. Just staring.

Daniel’s cock went hard in his hand, and he could feel the heat, the pulsing. He suspected that it would begin to drip soon, but Daniel wasn’t watching, so it was hard to know. He swiped a thumb over the slit to feel for it, to check. Not yet. Daniel whimpered at the sensation.

He braced a hand on Armand’s shoulder, and was leaning closer. Quick glance down to watch Armand’s gestures, then looking into his face again. Lips were parted, barely, just enough. Daniel was staring.

“Do you want to kiss me, Daniel?” Armand saw the gleaming white flash of his own teeth as he spoke, and then nothing. Daniel must have closed his eyes as he leaned in, and there came the warm human mouth against his own.

“What about now?” Daniel asked, whispering against the corner of Armand’s mouth. “What do you see?”

He kissed back before answering. “Nothing.”

Daniel’s hips thrust forward against Armand’s hand, and his hands were running up and down the sides of Armand’s neck. But his eyes were still closed, and… it seemed unusual, alarming, to be engulfed in blackness like this. His mind instinctively probed for Daniel’s, as if searching for the visions, but there was nothing. It just made Daniel’s thoughts more clear.

_He’s so cold. Fuck that’s hot. Is he listening?_

Armand squeezed hard in response, and gave him a twist around the head.

_Oh god you’re listening. You’re listening._

Then his face again, like a light coming on, as Daniel opened his eyes. Even racked as he was by sensation, beginning to sweat and tremble, he wouldn’t look away from Armand’s face. Armand saw himself smirk.

“You’re foolish, Daniel,” he said, and swiped again with his thumb to see if Daniel was leaking yet. And, ah. Yes, there it was. He grinned. “You’re a morbid romantic.”

“What do you—“

Before he could finish his question Armand had let go and taken him around the waist, flipped him back against the couch and slid down onto the ground. It happened too fast for Daniel to see—it would’ve been pushing it, regardless, but he saw the way Daniel’s drunken brain failed to keep up, colors and shapes a blur until he landed on Armad’s face again. His heart was skipping beats, and Armand saw him reach his hand out to touch before he felt it. Fingertips trailing his jawline, soft and reverent, like he had to confirm for himself. And enough, enough. A beautiful visage, surely, but one that Armand didn’t want to see anymore. He felt for the warm appendage again, running hands up Daniel’s thighs and soaking in the whimper when he finally clasped it again, and then he leaned in to take it into his mouth.

Easier this way, only seeing the auburn hair at the crown of his head, and Daniel’s hands squeezing his shoulders. He couldn’t see the task at hand, but this came naturally enough. He held the base in his fist and tasted the precum, probing at the slit with the tip of his tongue. Daniel’s hips rose beneath him, thrusting gently into Armand’s mouth, perhaps unconsciously. His free hand reached to touch Daniel’s balls, and he pressed his thumb hard against the smooth perineum. This was the way Daniel liked it, the way Armand had been practicing on him for months.

“I want to see you,” Daniel said, a bit breathless, and his hands stroked up the sides of Armand’s neck and up to his hair to guide his head back. When he resisted, Daniel’s hand tightened and tugged. “Armand…”

He watched himself do it, the languid way he drew himself up off Daniel’s cock, tongue tracing the vein on the underside. The white skin of his face rising like the moon. And then his gaze met Daniel’s, like meeting his own--even with his eyes covered Daniel could _feel_ it somehow--and his body began to coil, almost ready to go. _Fuck, fuck, I—_

 _No, Daniel,_ Armand said back, silently. His mouth wasn’t full but the shining cockhead was pressed tight to his lips, leaving a glossy trail everywhere it touched. Daniel let go of his hair and his hands went to the slack pant legs over his thighs, bunching up the fabric as he strained.

“I’m gonna come,” he stuttered out. Armand couldn’t see it, but he knew this part well enough to know that now Daniel’s abs would be clenching, and he heard the way the air hissed in through his teeth.

Armand drew himself back, leaning back on his heels, and his hand stilled mid-stroke to grip Daniel around the base. Hard. Daniel gasped and rolled his hips up off the couch in frustration. Armand licked his lips, savoring the salt and lust, and wiped his mouth on the back of his free hand.

“No, Daniel,” and Daniel’s head fell back, desperate and ready to squirm, so that all Armand saw was the dull gray of the ceiling. The dick in his hand was twitching, trying so desperately to convulse and finish. Armand didn’t ease his hold. He waited until Daniel looked back down at him, and saw the way his hair had been tousled out of place, the glint of fangs barely peeking through.

 _What?_ He could sense that Daniel wanted to shout it, scream it, demand, but the vice around him had him speechless. Armand saw the half-smirk on his own face before he realized he’d done it. Odd, the things this boy brought out in him. He leaned forward again but didn’t continue and didn’t relent.

“Do you believe me, Daniel?”

“What?!” the word stuck in flurry of heaving breath and throbbing pulse.

“That I can see, Daniel. Do you believe me?”

“Sure, whatever! Armand!”

_Daniel._

“Please,” he whined. _Please let me come._

He wondered if he sent the images back if Daniel would tell the difference—if he’d be able to tell they’d been twice removed. His vision was so fuzzy from the booze, anyway, but… he probed deeper for something else, something more distinct. His own profile as Daniel kept looking over at him during the show earlier, lit dimly by the ambient stage lights. Daniel marveling at the tremors in his hands as he’d smoked a cigarette in the dying sunset that afternoon. Further back—dawn over the East River, sitting on a park bench after Armand had gone to his crypt. Louis in that room and Armand in the shadowy doorway the night they met in New Orleans. And deeper, deeper. Things Daniel wished he could un-see, and Armand felt the shift in the boy’s frame as he put them on display. The cruelty of it gave him a small thrill. The look on his best friend’s face the day he was drafted. His dog being hit by a car. The damp space where he’d been imprisoned by a vampire.

_I see everything, Daniel._

Tense and panicked but his arousal was not abating. He rocked forward on the edge of the couch.

“Please--”

“Do you believe me?”

“Yes,” almost crying.  Daniel was looking down at his cock and it was straining in Armand’s hand, swollen and going purple. The color of Armand’s skin was so dramatic against it. “Yes, Armand. I believe you. Please.”

“Take the blindfold off, Daniel,” he said. “Your mind is a dark place to be.”

_Fuck, fuck--_

He watched Daniel’s hands, trembling, reach for him to tug the tie away. And then, like that. The light in the room again, and his real vision. Daniel’s face finally, exactly where he wanted it. Red and sweaty, bangs stuck to his forehead, eyes glassy and pained. A deep crease between his eyebrows as he bit his bottom lip, and the flush that went all the way down his neck and into his shirt. Ah, yes.

“Beautiful, Daniel,” he said, and eased his grip enough to stroke once, twice more, and then it was over. Daniel couldn’t hide the noise that came out, and covered his mouth with the back of his hand a moment too late. But Armand had heard. Pathetic and weak and seductive, and he saw the blue veins dance beneath the skin on his wrist as he tried to hide there. The cum shot outward, over his hand and onto the front of his shirt, his vest, staining his own tie.

Daniel was staring at the dark streak on the silk as he came down, breath heaving a little. He swallowed hard and rubbed at the spot with his thumb.

“Sorry,” he mumbled.

“I have plenty,” Armand said, and he settled back on the floor as he began to lick his hand clean. He met Daniel’s eyes as he did it. “We can use a different one next time.”

**Author's Note:**

> Say hi on [Tumblr](https://monstersinthecosmos.tumblr.com/post/166547235639/only-human)!


End file.
